Damnation Alley is a 1977 science-fiction thriller set in a post-apocalyptic world, very loosely inspired by the novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny.
World War III happens. The crew at a remote U.S. Air Force missile base survive the war, but following an accident which kills several of them and destroys most of their supplies, the remainder decide to make their way across the country to the only part of the U.S. that is still inhabitable. Unfortunately, the only way to get there is a narrow strip of not-quite lethal wasteland, dubbed by the leader of the expedition as "Damnation Alley". As the name suggests, it's no picnic. They set out in a pair of "LandMaster" armored vehicles, encountering various dangers and other survivors as they travel east.
The LandMaster prop is arguably the best thing in this movie, and went on to have almost as long a career in cinema as the human star, Jan-Michael Vincent.
Best known for being the blockbuster 20th Century-Fox was expecting in the summer of '77, if not the one they got.
The movie contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Ending: The film ends with Tanner and Janice arriving in Albany and being greeted by the survivors, but the rest of the crew with the Landmaster are never shown arriving. Did they show up later or did they all die off-screen?
- Apocalyptic Logistics: Handwaved by having the LandMaster use truck parts, so spares can be salvaged from junkyards and derelicts. They twice run into trouble trying to find fuel, but Gasoline Lasts Forever even though it's been a couple of years since the war.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The LandMaster. Armed to the teeth with rockets, mortars and machine-guns, amphibious, large enough to hold several people comfortably (complete with bunks and shower), an internal navigation system and radio, with a triple-wheel arrangement on each axle that allows it to go over obstacles with minimum fuss. Doubling the awesome is the fact that the thing actually worked. This interview by Dean Jeffries showcases the awesome
. - After the End: World War III came and went and the world was devastated up to eleven (at one point, it's revealed that Earth's axis has shifted by 90 degrees).
- Alien Sky: The sky is in a permanent aurora borealis due to Earth literally being knocked off its axis by the multiple nuclear detonations.
- Apocalypse How: Class 4. Earth's flora and fauna have either gone extinct or been irrevocably changed by the radiation, and unlike the novel there's no mention of any organized human settlements beyond Albany.
- Attack of the Killer Whatever: The crew stop for gas in Salt Lake City, only to be attacked by The Swarm of flesh-eating mutant cockroaches infesting the city.
- Big Badass Rig: The LandMaster.
- Black Dude Dies First: Strictly speaking averted, in that Keegan is not the first of the group of survivors to die, but he's one of the main characters and doesn't come close to surviving the trip. The fact he is played by Paul Winfield assures his fate.
- Captain Obvious: During the nuclear war in the prologue, one of the soldiers feels the need to clarify that the incoming Soviet nuclear missiles are hostile. You know, in case anyone thought the incoming Soviet ICBMs headed for major U.S. were peaceful and loaded with confetti and streamers.
- Casting Couch: Janice survived the war because the casino manager took her into his personal nuke shelter to have sex with her, claiming he could get her an introduction to Frank Sinatra. She wryly admits how pathetic that sounds.
- Chekhov's Skill: Billy's introductory scene has him chucking rocks at Tanner and scoring several hits. He's later able to grab a rock and take out the Mountain Man who's trying to rape Janice.
- Cockroaches Will Rule the Earth: The expedition makes a brief stop in what's left of Salt Lake City. Of course, everyone's dead, and most of the taller buildings were leveled. The first clue that something hungry is afoot is a pair of human skeletons seated in a car, where even the upholstery is gone, leaving only the springs and frames. The team becomes target of a swarm of huge cockroaches, about 10 inches (25 cm) long.
- Companion Cube: Tanner brings a female store mannequin all the way from Barstow (though he has to ditch it) and admits that he kissed 'her' at one point. Keegan jokingly reprimands him for not sharing. We also see one of the airmen getting extremely aggravated when he misses out on some private time with a bunch of girlie magazines.
- Creepy Cockroach: A swarm of flesh-eating ones, capable of leaving their victims Stripped to the Bone, devours Keegan alive. He tries stomping one when they first turn up, but they've an armored carapace that protects them.
- Death World: Earth, after the nuclear exchange. Narrative titles point out that the weather has gone mad, among other things, and the titular "Damnation Alley" is explicitly the path of least resistance through the irradiated wasteland. Albany however is strangely unaffected.
- Didn't Think This Through: The airman who smokes in the gas valve room, with a clear sign warning not to smoke, ends up blowing the whole base and kickstarting the road trip plot.
- Dirt Forcefield: Despite Major Denton setting a roster of one shower per week, the characters look like they take one every day. Only the Mountain Men they encounter look remotely dirty.
- Dull Surprise: During the nuclear war in the prologue, none of the soldiers seem to notice or care (despite an announcement of the fact) that the world is literally ending, civilization and society are being destroyed and everyone they've ever known is being annihilated by nuclear weapons. Hell, Major Denton sounds absolutely bored, reading off a list of cities that have been hit by Soviet nukes (including Chicago, where his wife is) as if it's a list of NFL draft picks.
- During the War: The prologue follows the main characters as they watch World War III unfold.
- Earth That Was:
- Tanner, Keegan and even Major Denton enjoy themselves playing the one-armed bandits in a casino tent, and the air fills with the imaginary sound of the crowds that once enjoyed themselves there.
- To get spare parts the Landmaster has to stop off at a scrap metal yard in Detroit, full of hundreds of derelict vehicles that are no longer being produced.
- Eaten Alive: Keegan gets nibbled to death by cockroaches.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: The final obstacle before the film's end is a massive flood that wipes out Detroit.
- Hostile Weather: The first casualty of the expedition occurs when tornadoes overturn one of the LandMaster's and the driver breaks his neck. Later a hurricane causes torrential rains that flood Detroit.
- Last Fertile Region: Most of the world is an irradiated wasteland after the nuclear war, but the missiles from the California military base the main characters were at did intercept several Soviet nukes before they hit America, so the area around Albany is rich with grass and trees.
- No OSHA Compliance: The accident that devastates the military base is a fire started by a guy who nodded off while smoking in a room with a couple of gas storage tanks.
- Not So Above It All: Tanner is actually surprised that Denton, a huge stick in the mud even after World War III, is the one who thought of naming the route "Damnation Alley". He unbends enough to start playing the slot machines in Las Vegas, and when it turns out there are people alive in Albany, he throws his cap in the air and shoots at it in celebration.
- Ramp Jump: When Tanner and Janice are trapped in the department store by The Swarm of killer cockroaches, Tanner uses a door to smash open a window, then lays the door against the window sill so he can jump their motorbike across to the roof of the parking lot opposite.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Mountain Men make it clear that they intend to rape Janice—indeed they get annoyed when they wrongly assume that one of them has started without the others. This contrasts with Tanner who's mentioned as having been a rapist in the original novel, but here Keegan rubbishes the idea that Janice has any reason to be concerned about him.
- Red Sky, Take Warning: Red skies are the first thing shown of the post World War III world, though other bright colors appear as well. After the storm that wipes out Detroit, the appearance of blue sky for the first time is a sign that things are going to turn out all right.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Major Denton is assumed to be a tightass but he's right in that discipline will break down completely if he isn't. When they leave on their expedition, he doesn't trust Tanner but is only as hard as he needs to be to assert his authority, lightening up at other times.
- Reclaimed by Nature: The city of Las Vegas has been reclaimed by the desert (except for a few buildings such as the Circus Circus Casino) in the handful of years following World War III. The climax of the film involves the protagonists being smack in the middle of a freak storm that does this same thing to Detroit — by means of a titanic flood.
- Road Trip Plot: From the Nevada desert to Albany, New York (the only safe zone left in post-nuke America).
- Safe Zone Hope Spot: Blithely subverted with Albany. Although it's discussed early on that it could be this trope played straight (an automated radio broadcast, etc), the town survived.
- Scary Scorpions: A motorbike-riding Tanner has to run a gauntlet of giant mutated scorpions around the Air Force base. Keegan offers to cover him with rifle fire, but he makes it through on his own.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: The survivors at the missile base still occasionally wear their military uniforms long after every other known member of the U.S. government dies in a nuclear holocaust. This is even true of Keegan and Tanner after they officially resign from the military remnant.
- Stock Footage: The base explosion scene uses footage from Operation Crossbow, while the climax of the film uses footage from films When Worlds Collide and Earthquake.
- Superdickery: At the start of the post-WW3 scene, Tanner has apparently rescued a woman on his dirt bike, but then throws her off to lighten the load and distract the giant scorpions attacking him. Keegan is quite shocked until he looks through his telescope and realises that 'she' is a store mannequin.
- Tagalong Kid: Billy, whom they find wandering the badlands after the death of his parents. After catching him with some difficulty (as he's not inclined to trust them) they feed him and coax him into joining them.
- There Was a Door: When Tanner and Janice are trapped in a parking garage by the swarm of cockroaches, the LandMaster just blasts its way through the wall with the mortars to rescue them.
- Title Drop: The "Damnation Alley" is a pretty vague route from one coast to the other, defined by it being a series of interconnected spots of terrain that have been (comparatively) less irradiated.
- Too Dumb to Live: Keegan takes cover from the flesh-eating cockroaches in a car containing the skeletons of two previous victims that he had seen earlier, because it obviously worked for them!
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: A small group of survivors (hinted to be cannibals) threaten the companions at one point. They are disposed of easily, with a few head shots, a well-thrown rock, and the LandMaster's rocket launcher. They are the only human enemies that appear on the whole film.
